“If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.”
- Date
- 1894
- Attribution
- Source identified
- Voice / speaker
- Epigraph / fictional source voice · Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar
What does this quote mean?
The comparison uses cynical humor to praise the imagined loyalty of a rescued dog while criticizing human ingratitude after receiving help or prosperity.
Where does it come from?
Pudd’nhead Wilson, Calendar epigraph before the oyster-habits joke.
Who voices the line?
Epigraph / fictional source voice · Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar. Twain presents this wording as a chapter-epigraph Calendar maxim. The Calendar is a fictional framing device / source voice rather than uncomplicated autobiography by Twain.
The source author and the local speaker can be different, especially in fiction, drama, dialogue and poetry.
How should this attribution be read?
This wording is connected with the named source shown above. Translations and editions can vary, so consult the source note when exact wording matters.